


A Brave New World

by TammyRenH



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen, Sam-Centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-29
Updated: 2015-01-29
Packaged: 2018-03-09 12:40:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3250037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TammyRenH/pseuds/TammyRenH
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was born of my desire to see Sam interact with a child (cause as empathic as that man is, he would rock with children), to create my own little world, and for Sam to finally get his quest.  I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Brave New World

Awesome art work for this fic by tumblr user bunkbuddylucifer can be found here:   
http://bunkbuddylucifer.tumblr.com/post/109466175348/a-brave-new-world-art-post

 

**A Brave New World**

So, there it was again.  A muted scratching sound, like something was trapped inside the walls and begging to be let out. Sam held Ruby’s knife in one hand as he made his way from room to room searching for the source of the sound.  He was alone in the bunker, Dean having left several minutes earlier on a beer run.  Sam had just settled down with a book in his room when he first heard the strange noise. 

He made his way slowly and carefully through the bunker, stopping and listening at the door of each room.  Slowly Sam became aware that the sound was changing – it now sounded more like knocking.  If it was an animal, it was one with fists.  Finding nothing in the main level of the bunker, he went down into the dungeon, where the sound picked up both in volume and intensity.  He was closer, but whatever it was wasn’t here.  He opened the hidden door that led into the garage, and was sure he was finally at the right place. The smart safe side of Sam wanted to stay right where he was until Dean came back and then they could investigate together.  The curious reckless side of him knew that was not going to happen. 

Especially not after he looked over to the wall where Dorothy and Charlie had disappeared into Oz and saw a peephole there that had never been there before.  It was high up, in fact so high up it was eye level for him so not exactly where a peephole would normally be.  And of course peepholes belonged in doors, not walls.  Yeah, Sam was going to have to check this out.

Sam walked up to the wall and placed one eye over the peep hole.  An eye stared back at him and blinked a few times.   Sam took a few steps back, almost tripping in his haste to retreat.  What the hell?   He really, really should wait for Dean.  Despite himself he walked up to the peephole again and looked out once more.  This time the eye was gone but standing a short distance from the peephole was a little girl.  Sam was no good at guessing ages of children, but if he had to make a conjecture based on her appearance, he could say she was six or seven maybe.  However, even from here he could tell she was very small.  She was wearing a purple dress, tied with a black bow and wearing black shoes that reminded Sam of the ones he had seen of pictures of girls in the 40’s and 50’s.  Her hair was shiny and long and pitch black and was tied in the back with a purple bow.   She was smiling at him, not the kind of tentative smile children usually gave him, but a warm excited full-out smile.  And then she was running straight at him, practically launching herself at him as her arms went around his legs and –

Wait a minute.  Sam looked down at that little girl who was hugging his legs – the only part of his body she could reach – with more force than what he thought someone that small should be capable of.  He looked back to the bunker, but the bunker was gone.  He was outside now, not outside the bunker but in a place he had never seen, a place so surreal that he wondered for a moment if he was sleep walking.  The sun was shining brightly in a clear cloudless sky, but when he looked right at it, it didn’t hurt his eyes. The sunlight seemed muted, softer somehow.    He seemed to be in some kind of meadow, but none of the brightly colored flowers looked familiar.  The flowers were tall, they reached the waist of the little girl who was still holding onto him.  The flowers were star shaped, the kind of five pointed stars they had you draw in kindergarten that didn’t really look like stars at all.  The flowers were every color of the rainbow and then some.   And the meadow went on as far as Sam could see, which as nothing obstructed his vision, no trees, no houses, no other creatures in view but him and the little girl, was pretty far.

Just as Sam was about to pry her hands loose, the little girl let go of him and stepped back.  Sam was startled to see her eyes were purple, the same exact color as her dress. There was something different about her ears too, they were oddly shaped, maybe a little pointed.  Other than that, she looked like a perfectly normal little, very little, girl.  A perfectly normal little girl that was crying.

Sam knelt down in front of her, even in this position he was still a lot taller than she was, but it was easier to talk to her this way.  “Hey don’t cry.  What’s wrong?   Are you hurt?”

“I’m just happy you finally came” She replied, and flashed him a beautiful smile.  “I’ve been trying and hoping and waiting forever.”

“Waiting?” Sam asked, looking once more at his surroundings.   “You’ve been waiting here for me?  Where exactly are we?”

“Home.” She replied, stretching her arms out wide and turning around in a circle.  “Well my home.”  She pointed to Ruby’s knife, which until that moment he had forgotten was still in his hand.  “You won’t need that you know, there are no demons here.”

“I still don’t understand – “

“I can’t believe you are finally here.”  The girl interrupted, as she gave him another hug, this time she was able to reach all the way to his upper arms.  “I’ve been knocking at that door forever, but you never came.  But today I really really needed you to come so I stood right here and knocked and knocked and then when I saw you – I almost cried.  Well I did cry, but it was just because I am so so happy.  Nena said I could do it, but I wasn’t sure, but now I find she was right all along, which I guess usually she is. Except maybe about you because she said you are a bit of a screw-up and probably will make a mess of things but I think you will be just fine, don’t you?”

  
Sam’s head was beginning to hurt.  He needed answers, Advil and Dean, not particularly in that order.  “I have no idea what you are talking about, I don’t understand why I am here.  Or even where we are. Or who you are, so let’s start with that okay? Who are you?”

“Don’t you know?”  The little girl asked, sounding disappointed.

Sam shook his head, feeling somehow that he had let her down.  The girl seemed distraught for a second, then smiled again and offered her his hand.

“This is the way your people do it right?  That’s what Nena told me.  She said that once she had – “The girl took her other hand and put it against her mouth, her dark magenta eyes opened wide in alarm.  “I’m not supposed to tell anyone about that, not even you although I told Nena you would never tell, I mean considering that you are – “  She stopped again, and looked down her feet, before reoffering her hand and looking him back in the eye.  “I’m Lisia.”

Sam solemnly shook her hand, his large hand engulfing her tiny one.   “Hi Lisia, I’m Sam.”

Lisia giggled.  “I know that silly.  I know everything there is to know about you.”

That was kind of unsettling.  “What do you know?”

Lisia began speaking rapidly.  “You’re Sam Winchester, you’re 32 years old which sounds like really really old but Nena says it’s rude to say that and she’s even older and she can do everything so I guess you can too and you live in that old place that’s down in the ground that those other men used to live in until that pretty  lady with the red hair killed them all which was really sad but then your brother killed her which I guess was good but then he turned into one of those demon things that you guys have all over everywhere and we don’t which I’m very happy about but we have witches and some witches are very bad which I guess you know cause you have witches just different kinds of witches which really wasn’t what I was talking about and Nena says I have to learn to stick with one subject so – oh yeah your brother was a demon but you cured him with that blood spell which I should probably tell you that blood spells don’t work the same way here and you and your brother both have died like a lot and you have an angel friend and I like the angels even though mostly you don’t and I wish we had some here but we have other cool things you guys don’t so I guess it all evens out, like Nena likes to say and – what else – oh you like books and you hunt really bad things and you and your brother really fight a lot which is kind of sad because if I had a brother or sister I wouldn’t fight at all, I’d just be happy to have one – and – um – oh you’re really tall, I mean I’m tall but you are like – wow – tall.”

This was said in one very long whoosh of air, which she finally seemed to run out of.  She looked at Sam expectantly   Sam looked back at her, trying to process anything at all from that jumbled tangent of information.  There was something familiar about her, something almost de ja vuish. His mind finally clicked on that last thing she has said. “You’re tall?”

“Well yeah obviously.  You know, Nena said that for a really smart person sometimes you take a long time to catch on to things.  I can see what she means.”

Sam was beginning to really not like this Nena person.  “Who is Nena?”

  
“She’s one of us, well not me because I’m – “Again Lisia broke off her words as if she was about to say something she shouldn’t.  “She’s part of my Mom’s – family I guess you would call it.  She helps take care of me ‘cause my mother is gone like your mother is gone which is another way we are alike.”

“Another way?”  Sam asked, then remembered. “Oh yeah, us being so tall and everything.  So where I would I find this Nena?”  Sam was hoping Nena was somebody with the answers, because all he was getting from talking to Lisia was more and more questions.  

“Oh my goodness, oh no.”  Lisia began pulling on his arm.  “I was so happy about finally getting to see you- well not see you, cause you know obviously I’ve seen you before but to – well see you here that I forgot – you’ve got to save Nena.   We’ve got to hurry, the Fervin will be there when the flowers all die and they are starting to die already.”

Sam looked at his feet, sure enough the flowers were beginning to wilt.  He looked up, moments ago the sun had been right in front of him, now it had sunken much lower and was fading into the horizon.  “Wait, hold on.  What is a Fervin?”  
  
Lisia was not paying any attention to Sam, she was rummaging in her dress pockets for something.   Giving a cry of triumph, she pulled out what appeared to be a stick of some kind.  Lisia said a word that Sam didn’t understand but believed probably translated into something not nice and threw the stick down, which then proceeded to slink away.   Sam was so busy watching the rapidly disappearing stick that he missed what Lisia pulled out next until she placed it in his hand.  It was a sword, like the one that Dean had gotten that time out of the stone, but this one wasn’t broken.  It looked new, brand new as if it had just been forged.  The hilt was encrusted with multi-colored crystals, the blade was long and slightly curved.  Although Sam had almost no experience with swords, this one felt – well – right in his hands.  He turned the sword around in a circle, the last gasps of the sun sparkling over the crystals.

Sam looked at Lisia.  “A sword” He asked.  “Why do I need a sword?”

“How else are you going to slay the dragon silly?”  Lisia asked, as she yanked at his hand again.  “We’ve got to go. Now.  We’ve wasted too much time already the Fervin will be there any moment now.”

“There are dragons?”  Sam asked, trying to remember if he had ever read anything about any dragons in Oz, if Oz was where he was.

Lisia gave a sigh of exasperation and placed her hands on her hips.  “No, of course not. Do you see any dragons? It’s a metaphor you goof.”

“A metaphor?”  Sam asked, standing up and feeling his legs crack a bit as he stood.  Maybe Lisia was right about him getting old.

“Even I know what a metaphor is, and English is not my primary language so I know you do.”  She grabbed his hand and tried to pull him in the direction the sun was rapidly fading from.  “Nena says that you – “

Sam really didn’t care to hear what Nena had said about him, he could guess it wasn’t anything flattering.  He stopped her in mid-sentence by yanking back at her hand.  “Look Lisia, I am not going anywhere until I get some answers.”

Lisia crossed her arms in front of her chest, and stood with her feet apart and her chin upturned.  “Ask fast, or I’ll go and kill the Fervin myself which I would have done if I had any idea how slow you are and well also I’ve never killed anything and Nena says it’s harder than it looks so – ask fast.”

“Where are we?  Are we in Oz?”  Sam asked, obligingly quickly.

“Since you came through the door that leads to Oz, yes, obviously, Oz.”  She said, beginning to tap one of her feet impatiently.  “Next?”

“Who – what are you?”  Sam wished he had phrased the question more delicately.

Lisia opened her mouth to say something, thought better of it apparently, closed it and tapped her feet a few more times before answering.  “I’m not this or that, Nena says I am a hybrid which is why I am so tall.  I mean they have tall people in other parts of Oz of course, Dorothy and the witches are taller but they never come here which is a good thing cause – well you know.”

Okay that cleared that right up.  Sam was about to ask another question, when he heard a scream.  Lisia turned from an impatient cool-as-a-cucumber kid into a frightened child at the sound.  She looked at Sam with tears in her eyes.  “We’ve got to go, please hurry.”

Sam noticed that the flowers had lost all their vibrancy, turning into a wilted glob of brown. Sam began to run, looking back he could see that Lisia was falling behind.  He retreated a few steps to grab her hand and they ran a few yards together before Sam, again without consciously thinking about it, picked her up and ran with her in his arms toward the sound of the screams.

He ran right into a large hole, never seeing it until it was too late.  He held on tight to Lisia as they tumbled down into an ever-widening opening until they landed with a thump onto the soft ground, covered with something akin to clover.  They were in some kind of underground house Sam realized as he carefully placed Lisia on her feet.  In the next split second he saw a smaller, older version of Lisia, with the same purple eyes but ears that were definitely pointed and fingers without fingernails.  She was the screamer, and she was pointing to something beside him.   As Sam tried to get his bearings, Lisia shouted out to him. “That’s a Fervin.” 

Sam scrambled to get to his feet to face the Fervin, and realized quickly he had a disadvantage as the roof was so low that he had to double himself over to keep from banging his head against the top of it.

The Fervin was a wooly creature that kind of reminded Sam of a wookie that had been fed after midnight.  Its fur was dark brown, matted with a substance that Sam couldn’t identify and thought he probably didn’t want to, and it had claws on its hands and feet.  It was about 4 feet high, taller than Lisia or Nena, but almost eye to eye with Sam since Sam was bent over.  He was trying to figure out how to even hold his sword in this awkward position when the Fervin struck at him with his paw, his sharp nails digging into Sam’s arm.  Startled Sam dropped the sword as intense red-hot pain radiated through the scratches and into his arm.  The Fervin gave a sound that resembled a bark and then headed back up the way Sam had fallen in, scrambling on his hands and knees up into the field of now dead flowers.

Sam was still clutching his pain-filled arm as his eyes followed the Fervin’s getaway.  “That went well.”

“Don’t just stand there, you’ve got to go after him.” The woman Sam surmised was Nena told him, poking at his chest to emphasis the urgency.

“Why?”  Sam asked “You wanted him gone, and he’s gone.”

“He’s got family, and they’ll all come unless you stop them. “  Lisia explained to him.  “And then there’s the poison.”  
  
Sam hated to ask   “Poison?”  
  
“I’d say you’ve got about ten minutes,” Nena informed him.  “Before the poison kills you.  Well, it’s probably closer to nine now.”

“Talk about burying your lead,” Sam mumbled as he awkwardly turned around in the tiny underground burrow.  “So killing him will negate the poison somehow?”

Sam made his way until he was under the hole where finally, thankfully, he was able to stand up.  Sam put his hands on both sides of the hole where there were indentations for hands and feet and began pulling himself out of the ground.

“No, but I have the antidote and my price is the Fervin’s death.”  Nena said having made her way to him.  “If you fail, and he kills you, I’m not wasting a valuable antidote.”

“Well it’s nice to know where I stand.”  Sam had made it upside and was looking around for the Fervin.  The flowers were flat on the ground, which helped but on the downside the sun had gone completely down and there did not appear to be a moon or any stars in this little section of Oz.  Sam was looking at pitch darkness, straining his eyes and willing them to adjust.  He had a flashlight in his jacket, but his jacket was in the bunker.  Sam felt in his pocket for anything that would help, and realized that his phone was still in there.

“I don’t think you’ll get a good signal here.”  Nena snarked to Sam having also made her way out of the underground burrow, and then in a stage whisper to Lisia.  “I told you that you were overestimating his ability to take care of our problem.”

“He’ll do it.”  Lisia said, deliberately loud enough for Sam to hear.  “I know for a fact, beyond any doubt, when he puts his mind to it there is nothing he can’t do.”

Sam had turned the flashlight on his phone, barely managing to squash an intense desire to stick his tongue out at Nena.  It didn’t give him much light, but enough that he could make out the Fervin slowly walking toward where the sun had recently set.  Sam headed in his direction, with Lisia and Nena following a few yards behind.

“Watch out for the other homes.”  Lisia told him.  “There are holes everywhere.”

“There are more like you?”   Sam asked, keeping one eye on the ground and one on the Fervin.  The Fervin was moving very slowly thank goodness, so Sam was still catching up even as his pace slowed down so that he could shine his light on the ground to look for holes.  It was like he was chasing the Fervin in slo-motion, he was going slowly but the Fervin was walking even slower.  Dean would find this hilarious.  He could really use Dean right about now.

“Well of course there are.”  Nena said in a ‘boy are you stupid’ voice.  “Did you think we just sprang up fully formed from the ground?   The others are just too smart to come out of their homes with Fervins around.”

Sam was close enough to touch the Fervin now, wondering why the Fervin had not been paying him any attention.  He kicked at it with his left leg, hitting the Fervin right in his backside.  The Fervin fell face forward with a squeal.   “Stay down,” Sam told him, holding the sword with both hands over his head.

“He can’t hear you, you know.”  Lisia told him, staying a safe distance away from Sam and the Fervin who was beginning to rock himself back and forth on the ground.  “Fervins are born deaf.”

“What kind of monster is he?”  Sam asked Lisia but of course it was Nena than answered.

“He’s a Fervin,” She stated loudly.  “You see Lisia it’s hard to tell if he’s deaf or just that slow.”

“You know that’s not what I meant, what is he after?  Livers, hearts, souls, all of the above?”

“Blood.  Our blood,” Lisia answered.  “I told you – “

“Blood spells work differently here.”  Sam finished for her as the Fervin managed to rock himself completely over so he was now facing Sam.  “Okay, here goes nothing.”

Sam held the sword with both hands up in the air, and then brought the sword down with great force.  Unfortunately for him the Fervin moved faster than Sam gave him credit for, so the sword only manage to pierce the Fervin’s shoulder.  There was a gush of brownish blood from the Fervin who was making barking noises.  For his part, the movement caused so much pain in Sam’s affected arm that he had to take several deep breaths to keep from passing out.  When he could function again, he looked up to see that there were two Fervin’s now facing him, identical in every regard, and they both had their claws out.

“Might should have mentioned this before now,” Nena intoned.  “But if you wound a Fervin, it automatically creates a clone.  It’s a survival mechanism.  So if I were you I would probably stop the wounding and get to the killing.”

“Thanks, that’s very helpful.”  Sam replied with more than a hint of sarcasm as he took a few steps back from the advancing Fervins.  Two of them, one sword and one good arm.  And to make matters worse, Sam could feel the poison begin to spread.  He was beginning to feel light headed and the ground underneath his feet no longer felt stable.

“You have to stab right through the heart, anywhere else and you’ll just create more Fervins and there are way too many Fervins as it is.”  Lisia informed him.  “Also you need to do this faster ‘cause I don’t mean to scare you but you have about six minutes left.  Maybe less.”

Among the many obstacles standing between Sam and the killing of the Fervins was the fact that even fully erect they were much shorter than he was.  He’d have to get close enough to them to stab downward at an angle.  To make bad matters worse, the Fervins separated, now there was one on each side of him.   They were still moving slowly, apparently Fervins did not have much in the way of speed which was the only reason he was still alive right now.

Sam lunged at the Fervin on his right.  Bearing down on the sword, he thrust as hard as he could with his left hand.   The Fervin stumbled back, and for a second Sam thought he had gotten the job done but apparently he had miscalculated because – yup – now there was three of them.

“You are making it worse,” Nena told him unnecessarily.  “It has to be dead center in the heart.”

There was now a Fervin in front of him and on his left and right sides.  “You two need to find a safe place and hide.”  Sam told Nena and Lisia as he watched the three Fervins begin to walk toward each other.  Apparently they had decided to have a little powwow, probably choosing which one of them got to have him for supper.  They were making those strange barking sounds as they met in the center, which were so high pitched that they sounded something like whooping sounds. Well he didn’t blame them, the odds were ever in their favor.

“No, if you fail they’ll find a way to Lisia, no matter where we hide.  Our only hope is to stay here and help.”   Nena said to him as she put a protective arm around Lisia’s waist.

“Well then tell me something helpful.”  Sam muttered as he began to feel his legs weaken.  The poison had spread almost everywhere now, within minutes he would be gone.  He thought of Dean, returning from the beer run, looking for him everywhere, looking for him forever, wondering where he was.   He should have never left the bunker without his brother.

“So Sam – “Lisia began.

“You know the rules Lisia,” Nena interrupted.  “There is only so much we can – “

“I know, I know, I know Nena.  I swear I know.  But can I just tell him the one thing?  Please?”  Sam took his eyes off of the three Fervins long enough to look over at them.   Lisia was looking up at Nena, clearly pleading with her, giving her what Dean referred to as the puppy look with her dark purple eyes. 

Nena sighed.  “Very well as time is short.  I thought he might have figured it out on his own by now, but quite obviously that’s not going to happen.”

“He’ll figure it out Nena.  In the end, he always does.” Lisia said, giving Nena a hug.  “I won’t break the rules I promise. “  To Sam she said.  “Did you know everything here is special?”

Sam was too busy watching the Fervins, who had been squeaking to each other but now seemed to be squeaking in his direction which couldn’t be good, to give more than a shrug as a reply.

“The flowers for instance, they are pretty sure but we also use them for food and medicine and to hide our holes, well when its daylight and they are still alive they hide the holes at night not so much.  The Fervins of course can clone themselves.  And Sam, look here.”  The Fervins were beginning to walk toward him, they walked in formation, in total synch with one another.  Sam’s whole body was burning with fever and he wished Lisia would stop talking so he could formulate a plan, but he wouldn’t hurt her feelings for anything.  He looked over at her as bidden, and for a moment he thought the fever was causing delusions, for in Lisia’s place was a little blonde-haired girl with a round face and normal ears and wearing Lisia’s clothes which were too short for her.  In the next instance, the little girl was gone and Lisia was back. “We can do that.  Everything here is special.  Everything.   Sam – everything.”

“Okay that’s enough.”  Nena told her, pulling her back from where she had edged closer to Sam.  “Time’s up Sam, you have only a small amount of time left.  If you are the hero she believes you to be, this will be your only chance to prove it.”

Sam’s mind was in a whirl.  The Fervins were approaching him, not fast but steadily. Arms linked as they stepped ever closer.  Everything was special.   Everything.  He turned the sword in his hand, twisting the handle a little.  The blade seemed to grow longer, narrower.   He twisted it harder, and it became longer still.   Now it was straight, no longer did it have a slight curve.  Behind him he could hear Lisia laughing with delight and could hear Nena’s scoff.  This was it.  This had to be it.

They were just five feet from him.  Sam knew that he was taking a big risk, but it was literally do or die time.  Either it worked, or he will have failed and not only him, but Nena and Lisia would be lost as well.  Sam lowered his head and began a somersault, shaking the sword as he did so.  The sword’s blades began to multiply, where there had been one blade there was now three springing out of the same hilt.  As he reached the feet of the middle Fervin he swung up as hard as he could, hoping with everything he had that Fervins hearts were in the same place as humans, and watched as the sword’s three blades buried themselves in the three Fervins.   His eyes were beginning to fail him but he was pretty sure he saw them fall one by one and wondered if he had made a half dozen more of them –

Sam woke up in the burrow, he was lying on what he guessed could pass as a bed, his knees crammed against one wall, his head scrunched up against the opposite wall. Ruby’s knife was digging into his back from where he had tucked under his jeans.   In the most awkward way possible, thanking heavens Dean couldn’t see this, Sam managed to squeeze himself into a little ball and roll off the bed, landing on the floor with a loud thud.

“Are we feeling better now?”  Nena asked.  She and Lisia were sitting at a table, drinking some kind of dark liquid from a cup.

Well I would be if I could at least spread out my legs, Sam thought but wisely didn’t say.   He was sitting cross legged on the ground, and even in that position he realized he took up almost the whole floor of the room.  “Are the Fervins dead?”

“Well you are alive aren’t you?”  Nena asked.  “By the way thanks for taking care of our little problem and everything.  I didn’t think you had it in you to be honest. You know the way out.”

“Wait.  What?”  Sam asked, feeling a bit left behind in the conversation.  “Aren’t you afraid that the rest of the Fervins will come?”

“Fervins are notorious cowards.  Once the word gets around we have a protector, they’ll move on to the next village and how the folks there get rid of them is their problem.”   Nena stood up and dumped what was left of her liquid on one of the star-flowers that was blooming in the corner of the room.  “So if that’s everything -”

“No wait – wait.”  Sam looked from Lisia, who was still sitting in the chair looking like she might cry any second back to Nena.  “I saved your ass- your lives or your blood or whatever.  Don’t you think I am entitled to a few answers?”

“So Lisia, this is your knight in shining armor.  Can’t do a good deed without wondering what is in it for him.” Nena stood in front of Sam, arms folded.  “So I guess the age of chivalry really is dead.  Okay fine, it’s not like I can forcibly remove you.  You can ask, but I can’t promise I’ll answer.”

Now that he had permission to ask, Sam’s mind was a blank.  Well not so much of a blank as a whirlwind, it was hard to focus on one question.  “What are you?  I mean Lisia said she was a hybrid but a hybrid of what?”

“Okay, I know you didn’t have a mother but surely you picked up some kind of manners somewhere along the way, next thing you know you’ll be asking my age.”  Nena retorted, fixing him with an icy purple glare.

“Nena – “Lisia started to say but Nena just waved her off.

  1.   Um.  “So, obviously Lisia brought me here to kill the Fervin.  Why me?”



“I’ve asked myself that very same question many times, at least twenty since you and your big head fell into my house.”  Nena replied.  “There is no why, there just is.”

“You were chosen,” Lisia interjected.  “I’ve known since I was a baby that it had to be you.  And you did exactly what I knew you would – you were so brave and – “

“Enough.”  Nena told her with a slight frown.  “Rules.”

Lisia fell silent

This was getting him exactly nowhere, and he had the distinct feeling Nena was enjoying leaving him in the dark.  He had to try one more time.  “Lisia said she has been watching me, obviously she has because she knew a lot of things about me and the bunker.  How is that possible?  Are there other people watching me?  Is it just me you guys are watching?”

“Yes,” Nena confirmed, as she sat back down in her seat, turning away from Sam.  “It’s just you.  Because the world revolves around Sam Winchester.”

Sam opened his mouth and then closed it.  Obviously he wasn’t going to get any answers, not from her anyway.

After a few seconds of silence, Nena spoke again, this time not bothering to turn around and face him. “Okay then now that you are all through being nosy, it’s time for you to go.  I have things to do and you are in my way”

“I’ll take you back,” Lisia told him, a big smile on her face.  “I can open the door for you.”

“One more thing,” Nena told him as he began to crab crawl his way to where the hole was in the ceiling.  “You can’t tell anyone about this, what you did here, about us.  Not a soul.”

“Not even twenty of my closet friends?”  Sam asked, heavy on the sarcasm and then it hit him. “You mean, I can’t tell Dean?”

“Or he would probably insist on coming next time cause he’s all protective like that.”  Lisia informed him.  “And we have to follow the rules of the quest – “

Lisia stopped mid-sentence and put her hand over her mouth.   She looked over at Nena with big eyes.

“Next time?”  Sam asked.  “Quest?”

“You are right, he is quick.”  Nena said to Lisia before facing Sam again.  “Yes, this is your quest.  This is why I’ve been graced with your presence, because of you and that damned quest of yours.”

Lisia added.  “And when you finish the quest – which I know you will but Nena bet me twenty milmes that your wouldn’t, you’ll become a – “

“Lisia!’  Nena interjected.

“Rules!”  Lisia and Nena said together and Lisia fell into a fit of giggles so contagious that even Nena smiled.  Until then, Sam wasn’t absolutely sure she could.

Sam returned to the topic of Dean.  “I can’t not tell Dean, I have to tell him, I tell him everything.”

Nena fixed him with her icy purple stare.

“I do.”  Sam insisted.  “We’re brothers.  We share – everything.”

More icy stariness.

Sam began to feel a bit squirmy.  “Okay well I’ve turned over a new leaf and I’m trying to be the open book my brother always wanted me to be.”

“This isn’t about Dean, this is about you.”  Nena told him.  “And you should have left a long time ago so – good luck, good riddance and goodbye.”

Sam really wanted to ask more questions but changed his mind after taking a look at Nena’s set determined face.  He was where he could pull himself out, so he just gave a half-hearted smile in Nena’s direction and hoisted himself out onto the field and Lisia scrambled after him.

“I think I’m beginning to grow on her.”  Sam said to Lisia, Lisia giggled again in response.

The sun was back and the flowers were too.  Sam wondered how long he had been out, or maybe they just had incredibly short days here.  They had not gone far when Lisia called out “Watch your step, that’s Linwa’s home.”  

Sam looked down, sure enough hidden in all the flower stars was a hole, similar to the one over Nena’s house.  So they hid their homes by the flowers by day, which is why the Fervin came at night.  What they needed was a way to protect their home when the flowers were dead – Sam was so lost in thought that it took him a while to notice that Lisia had slipped her hand into his and that she was guiding him as to when he needed to step right or left to avoid stepping into an entryway.  Sam realized that he felt amazingly comfortable with this small child, which was weird because usually he was as awkward as hell around children.  Of course, with everything that had happened that day, weird was relative. Hand by hand they walked in comfortable silence until Lisia stopped.  “We’re here.”

Sam let go of Lisia’s hand and immediately missed holding it.  A thousand questions raced through his mind, but all he could think about was how much he was going to miss this little girl.

“I have to go back, or Nena will think I am telling you something I shouldn’t which I won’t because I need you to finish your quest and that can only be done if we follow the – “

“Rules.”  Sam supplied.  “It would help greatly me not breaking them if I knew what the rules were.”

“I wish I could tell you but I can’t because – “Lisia smiled.  “But bend over I have something to give you.”   Sam complied, bending down so that his face was next to hers.  To his delighted surprise she gave him quick kiss on the cheek and then was off like a flash.  “I’ll see you soon.”  She called over her shoulder as she disappeared into the never-ending field of flowers.   Sam touched his cheek where she had placed her kiss and felt an ache that he had never experienced before.

And then the field was gone, the girl was gone, and Sam was back in the garage, feeling dazed and disoriented.   He could faintly hear Dean calling his name and made his way back to the main bunker.  He stood in the hallway and yelled. “Here!”

Dean practically ran into the corridor.  “Dude, what’s with you, I’ve been calling your name for like forever.” 

“Sorry,” Sam mumbled.   “I – uh – was checking out the cars in the garage.  I’m thinking about renovating one, you know using it when you are away.”

“Okay, whatever.  Forget all about that for right now and grab your things.  We’ve got a case.”  Without waiting for a response, Dean headed back the way he came.  Sam absent-mindedly reached into his pocket for his cellphone but all that he brought out was a star-shaped flower which Lisia had apparently traded for the phone.  Smiling, he placed the flower back in his pocket and hurried after his brother.

 

The End

For Now

 

 

 

 


End file.
